Monday, 3 December 2012

CAMBODIA: Cambodian activists must believe in individuals’ capacity to accomplish the impossible

Asian Human Rights Commission By Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth

Last week, a young political science graduate from a
foreign university vented his frustrations in an e-mail from Cambodia at
many Cambodian compatriots who don’t like to read. If they don’t read,
they don’t learn. And if reading articles is painful, they certainly
won’t read an entire book!

Initially, I planned to write about US President Barack
Obama's visit to Cambodia, during which he reportedly spoke forcefully
to Cambodian premier Hun Sen regarding the administration's abysmal
record of human rights violations. But e-mails from Cambodians in the
country and abroad reoriented my focus, hence, today's article.

Don't like to read

Last week, a young political science graduate from a foreign university vented his frustrations in an e-mail from Cambodia at many
Cambodian compatriots who don't like to read. If they don't read, they
don't learn. And if reading articles is painful, they certainly won't
read an entire book!

He observed with frustration that there is
no learning without reading, and life is not meaningful if one has no
basis to compare, to understand, to improve. He dismissed suggestions
that there is a dearth of reading material available in Cambodia.
Cambodia, he said, lacks people who want to read. Across the oceans I
can sense his irritation– vexations of a young man who has put hours of
hard work into a second language, to earn a degree from a reputable
university. Now, back in his homeland, he is working to sensitize his
relatives, friends, and colleagues to value education as a key to
personal and national development. I have never met this young man. He
sought me out through the Internet when he was a student. We discussed
political socialization and political culture as he considered ways to
bring about change to Cambodia's status quo and to better serve society.

Still young, must think of living longer

A
few days ago, he wrote about the low price growers received for their
rice harvest. This has negatively affected his parents' livelihood. As a
result he may have to forego advanced studies and continue working so
that his four siblings may finish their education in Cambodia.

Nevertheless,
this young man remains committed to improving governance in Cambodia.
To that end, he attended a recent workshop in Phnom Penh on the topic of
governance and reform. He was disheartened by this meeting of "civil
servants, military, police and royal armed forces" personnel. They
rejected the need for adherence to the rule of law by a politically
impartial police and military, blindly citing the regime's party line in
support of that position. During the coffee break, some told him that
he is an "extremist," that he is still "too young and still has a long
time to live"; they advised him to be careful and live longer!

I
have been made aware of this kind of threat and intimidation before –
orchestrated accidents that take lives. Some incidents like the story of
an armored vehicle from a security unit deliberately hitting a driver
who had exited his vehicle at a security checkpoint. The driver was
hospitalized for three months as a result. Other Cambodians relate
stories of food poisoning and break-ins, among other violations.

Human Rights Watch published a 68-page report, Tell Them That I Want to Kill Them: Two Decades of Impunity in Hun Sen's Cambodia.
It describes cases of unsolved killings of more than 300 political
activists, journalists, opposition politicians, among others by Hun
Sen's security forces since the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements. It
identifies many senior Cambodian government officials involved in
serious abuses and their current positions in the administration.

The
report's title is said to be a quote from the then deputy-chief of Hun
Sen's bodyguard, Hing Bun Heang. He answered a journalist's question
about his reported role in the killing of 16 people in the 1997 hand
grenade attack that wounded Sam Rainsy. Heang was promoted to
lieutenant-general and is currently deputy commander-in-chief of the
Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.

The report was released before Obama's trip to Cambodia. It called for systemic reforms.

Dislike politics, Love 'Thveu Bon'

At
about the same time as my recent correspondence with the young
graduate, an e-mail from a leader of a Cambodian non-governmental
organization asked for my thoughts on an attitude she found to be
prevalent among Khmers inside and outside the country. She wrote, many
Khmers profess to dislike politics, an involvement they see as "scary."
She said they prefer Thveu Bon, engaging in a religious
ceremony to earn merit in this life in order to cross into a "beautiful
next life"; and that the hardships and sufferings of the people are a
product of karma that sufferers must endure. This way of thinking is,
she asserts, an impediment to the creation of a dynamic society of
citizens engaged in improving circumstances for everyone.

Misdirected
political socialization, a stagnant political culture, and the
unavailability of high quality education are among the elements that
cause such beliefs and behaviors to proliferate.

Politics

Those
who profess to dislike politics have themselves practiced politics
throughout their lives. We all exercise political skills on a daily
basis as we navigate through life.

In China, early Chinese
settlers practiced politics 350,000 years ago! They migrated, organized,
worked together, planned, and made decisions. This included the use of
psychological and physical power, the development of effective
procedures on the best ways to attain objectives and goals to keep their
settlements safe and prosperous. Each person, each group, seeks to
maximize his/her or its interests as s/he defines them. In general, the
human person develops interests comprising good health, the meeting of
economic needs, and a degree of contentment in life.

Politics
refers to human activities in their interpersonal relationships to
achieve targeted objectives and goals. There are family politics, peer
group politics, office politics, pagoda politics, community politics,
national politics and world politics.

When Cambodians, like many a
people, say they "hate" politics, they usually mean the politics of
government: They don't like demagoguery, demonization of opponents,
corruption, cruelty, the accumulation of power, or the trampling of the
rights of the less-privileged.

But didn't Lord Buddha teach
against the "evils of the tongue" that humans practice? Didn't Buddha
teach mankind to do all good, avoid all evil, and purify the mind?

There
is an old saying, "You get the government you deserve." It means in a
democracy, citizens can take actions to elect candidates they deem best
to form a government to serve them, or citizens can remain inactive and
get a government that doesn't serve them well.

Classical Greeks used the term politikos
to describe the relationships between the citizens and their city
state. In the 5th century, Athens emerged as the world's first
democracy: demos means people, kratia means government – demokratia,
a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Athens was
built on the principle that citizens' free and well-informed
participation in Athens' affairs was an honor and the duty of every
citizen.

But as my young correspondent noted, without reading one
does not learn about his/her own and his/her government's rights and
duties.

It is worth recalling that when the French General,
Charles de Gaulle entered politics, he declared, "I have come to the
conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the
politicians."

How "serious a matter" is politics? According to
China's Mao Tse-tung, "Politics is war without bloodshed while war is
politics with bloodshed." For England's Winston Churchill, "In war, you
can only be killed once, but in politics, many times."

More than
2,000 years ago, Greek philosopher Plato (428B.C.-347B.C.) warned that,
we would end up "being governed by those who are less intelligent" or
"inferior" to ourselves if we refuse to participate in politics.

"Thveu Bon" for Next Life

I
have written a great deal about politics and the teachings of Buddha.
But learning requires a desire to both learn and unlearn. Without the
motivation to learn, as the Khmer saying goes, Doch chak toek leu kbal tia – literally, it's like pouring water on a duck's head.

A
former Khmer Buddhist monk, Bouawat Sithi, a graduate of Thailand's
Djittabhawan College, affirmed time and again that Lord Buddha never
taught humankind to believe in fate, but "to believe in our own action
(karma)." He lamented that Buddha's teaching has been incorrectly taught
and understood. This has led to the situation where many Cambodians
have been overwhelmed with "egoism, anger, greed, delusion, desire,
craving, hate and aversion."

"Nothing is permanent," Lord Buddha
says, and he preaches, "Each morning we are born again. What we do today
is what matters most." "I never see what has been done; I only see what
remains to be done," Buddha says, and "We are what we think, with our
thought we make the world." Men and women are masters of their own
destiny. We should be self-reliant and take responsibility for our own
lives, Buddha urges, and "work out your own salvation."

Believe in ourselves?

In
my last article I quoted from Cambodian Ou Ritthy's article, published
by AHRC, about the Cambodians' habit of relying on foreigners to help
solve problems. Politicians sit and talk "only when foreigners act as
mediators," the government releases rights activists "only after
foreigners . . . intervene." "Can't we, Cambodians, take these actions
ourselves?" Ritthy asked.

Last week, Cambodian Pong Pheakdey
Boramy's writing in Facebook and communication posted on the Internet,
spoke of Cambodians' excitement to see President Obama. "He came, he
came out of his airplane"! Boramy wrote: "What I learned is we actually
do not rely and trust in ourselves . . . we do not trust ourselves but
Obama . . . to help our country."

"Why do we not choose to be ourselves, to believe in ourselves?" Boramy asked. He referenced the Phnom Penh Post and
other media outlets that reported "how people felt very disappointed
when Obama did not say a word to give them (a) stimulus" upon departing
from Cambodia.

In spite of the enormous problems that emanate
from Cambodians' attitudes toward change, and from the lack of a
broad-based quality education system, I conclude this article not
pessimistically but positively because Cambodians have come a long way.
Now there are increasing numbers who ask questions. As we know, this is
the first step in developing the capacity to think critically, analyze,
and take action. A questing mind is being developed. It is late, yes,
but better late than never.

The road ahead is still long and
unknown. But if nothing is possible without human engagement, so I would
like to think that nothing is impossible when men and women become
engaged and develop the will and the imaginative creativity to achieve a
goal.

……………..

The AHRC is not responsible for the views shared in this article, which do not necessarily reflect its own.About the Author:Dr.
Gaffar Peang-Meth is retired from the University of Guam, where he
taught political science for 13 years. He currently lives in the United
States. He can be reached at peangmeth@gmail.com.

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